There was one actress that inspired Angela Lansbury more than anyone

Before we recognize our own talents and what we can achieve, there is usually one person who sees it first: our moms.

Mothers bring us into the world and, with our fathers, help shape who we become. Depending on how you were raised and your parents' work, some say their parents inspired them to follow dreams and pursue careers once out of reach.

For Angela Lansbury, star of Murder, She Wrote, her biggest inspiration was her mom, beloved star Moyna MacGill.

MacGill made sure her daughter's confidence stayed high. As an industry icon, Moyna motivated her daughter to become one herself. In the book Angela Lansbury: A Life on Stage and Screen by Rob Edelman and Audrey E Kupferberg, Lansbury shares how much her mom meant to her and her success.

"It was because of Moyna that I started off right. She never stressed the need for a formal education. I was in drama school when I was twelve. I think she truly recognized the embryo actress in me at a very early age. Very early."

Lansbury continued, "Her sense of humor and encouragement were of a nature which never put any limit on what I could achieve. Her philosophy of life was extraordinary, and she imbued me with that at an early age, this notion of understanding that one was the master of one's fate."